Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Indian Republic Day is defined as day our constitution was adopted, the day our nation became a republic.

But taking into account the recent issues that our country has been facing, the terror attacks all over the country, the economic slowdown, etc. do you think that the Republic Day should be seen in new context?

Should we assign a completely new (or a better) meaning to this Republic Day?

This Republic Day, I am not the one giving opinions, but am asking for it from you, my readers and fellow Indians.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The past few days have been filled with criticisms and counter criticisms about ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. It’s literally been a food fight of sorts!!! While some prefer to go out in the open with their opinions others claim to merely pass on the ‘opinion of the masses’. But I am not gonna debate upon that.

What I want to point out is that, if the film makers of Bollywood claim their right to ‘creative license’ that they deserve, why aren’t they as ready to let others have a bite out of it too.

Agreed (even though I haven’t seen the film yet), SM brings to the forefront the slummy side of the city; it exploits the crime and sleaze in the city and indicates it to be the only things that the city has to offer. Agreed the westerners who have never been to India may be ‘delighted’ to see Mumbai in such light. But this isn’t any different from the fact that thousands of Indians flock to enjoy the crime infested movies by Ram Gopal Varma. Why don’t critics (and the common public) oppose him for exploiting the Mumbai’s crime scenario and projecting it as a city full of crime?

The bitter truth is that we accept anything and everything that comes from a fellow Indian, but it hurts our ego if the same comes from a foreigner. What a shame!!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

“The BEST Administration has proposed a hike in the cost of daily, monthly quarterly and yearly passes…The BEST administration has proposed a hike of Rs 5 in the daily ordinary bus pass, Rs 100 in the monthly, Rs 300 in the quarterly and Rs 1000 in the yearly passes…”Please correct me if I am wrong but doesn’t price rise tend to discourage commuters and drive them to use other means of travel?On a more serious note, how do you expect people to use the public transport more often if there is a price hike in fares? Ironically, many of its buses sport the public service message: Save Fuel, Use Public Transport

“Less than a year after the launch of the season passes scheme, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking wants to cash in on its popularity”Looks like the BEST is planning to milk the cow or rather, milk the commuters’ wallets!!!

Before I sign off, please do check out the latest poll on the sidebar.

P.S. Wishing all of you and your families a very Happy Makar Sankranti and Pongal too!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Last week’s Oil Workers Strike has not only been one of the many harrowing experiences in an average Indian’s life but it has also given all of us a morbid glimpse of the possibility of a future without fuel.

While my dad was scouting the neighborhood petrol pumps for a refuel, I sat at home wondering, what if we hadn’t gone to the mall the weekend before, to waste all those hours doing nothing but plain window-shopping. We could have spent same amount of time at home doing something worthwhile and more importantly, saved those couple of litres of fuel.

Why is it that man regrets his actions only after he suffers the consequences even though many a time he is aware of the outcome. Luckily my regret was soon doused by the joy brought to me by the fact that the strike ended the next day.

This was just a temporary crisis. But what will happen when we are faced with the bigger crisis, the oil depletion crisis. Predictions state that oil reserves will never be depleted, but that is only after taking into account the rise in usage of alternative sources of energy and the possibility of finding new ‘future’ fuels.

So the question is – Is India capable of developing alternative/non-conventional sources of energy to such an extent that our dependence on oil becomes negligible?